Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway Study Guide and Essay Contest

READING AND STUDY GUIDE

1. At its heart, The Devil's Highway is the story of a journey in the hope of starting a better life. Every family in the United States arrived here from somewhere else. What is your family's story?
2. The Devil's Highway is the story of the U.S.-Mexico border, but it is also about many other invisible borders. Aside from the physical border itself, what other borders separate the people in this story?
3. What borders separate all of us as people? If these borders exist, is there any way to bridge them? Or do we need these borders?
4. Is Jesus Antonio Lopez Ramos, aka Mendez, the villain of the story? Did he get what he deserved?
5. The theme of survival may be evident for the walkers, but how does it also apply to the Border Patrol and the smugglers themselves? To what lengths would you go to feed your family?
6. There seems to be a theme of occult and spiritual forces behind the scenes in the Arizona desert. Are these references offered symbolically, or are these presences an actual reality?
7. Luis Alberto Urrea writes that some of the Yuma 14/Wellton 26 were "aliens before they ever crossed the line." What does this statement mean?
8. In the opening pages of The Devil's Highway, the author draws a parallel between the issues of today's border and the United States' treatment of Chinese "coolies" in the nineteenth century. Can you think of historical parallels to any other current hotbutton issues?
9. The Devil's Highway examines the border from many different points of view. Do you think the author approached the topic with a truly objective eye?
10. Imagine that you have been granted the ultimate power to set border policy. What would you do? Why would your solution work? Why might it not?

Orientation Reading Program Essay Contest